The expanding influence of BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard continued to be felt across the governance landscape, from public statements by the firms’ CEOs on investment stewardship principles to more aggressive stances taken on gender diversity and climate risk

The nexus between activism and M&A grew stronger, with the attractiveness of event-driven returns encouraging activists to assert themselves as a key player on the M&A chessboard and raising the appetite of strategic acquirers to adopt activism as a tactic

Activist agitation led to numerous strategic and sale processes as the “fix” for underperforming businesses and acquirers leveraged the disruption created by activism

Acquirers leveraged the disruption created by activism, viewing it as creating the opening for a takeover

Shareholder pressure resulted in the scuttling or sweetening of M&A deals that were poorly received by investors